


A Seraph & A Demon (Angel Chronicles Universe: PreStory)

by lu2stylelala



Series: Angel's Chronicles Pre/Side stories [1]
Category: Gackt (Musician) - Fandom, Hyde (Musician) - Fandom
Genre: ACU: PreStory, Genre: AU, M/M, SciFy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-13
Updated: 2011-02-13
Packaged: 2017-11-06 03:33:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/414252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lu2stylelala/pseuds/lu2stylelala
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A PreStory in the Angel's Chronicles Universe, A Seraph & A Demon tells the story of Gackt and Hyde meeting. The first part of this story takes place fifteen years before "Playing God", the second is in their home just before events of Chapter 25 (or so).</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Seraph & A Demon (Angel Chronicles Universe: PreStory)

__  
Fifteen Years Ago:  


 _‘How ironic…’_ Dark colors were all he saw as he moved away from civilization. Dark clothing on dark souls, dark corners and alley-ways. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually basked in color, but all of a sudden this moment found him longing for it. _‘Getting sentimental, are we? How charming, a demon that is two steps away from taking up gardening…’_  
Parking in one of the last lots before the outskirts of the city, he killed the engine and stepped out of the vehicle, locking it before sliding the key away in his pocket. With a last glance to ensure he was alone, the Demon made sure that he wouldn’t be spotted and then let his leathery wings unfurl. Knees bent as he crouched to spring, and he had one last mocking thought before he launched into the darkening sky.  
 _‘Been too long since you got a chance to fly, better watch you don’t misjudge this storm, Hyde… It will be all too happy to end you.’_  
It used to be that wearing dark clothing made one stand out in a group, made the others around stop and stare. There was an instant wariness, a fear that of course started in reason, but spread as all fears do. What is the rationale again? Ahh yes, the belief that all of the good guys wear white, and so the bad wear black. _Beware of those in black_ , instincts scream.  
 _‘Well, black and dark blue in this case… But I suppose that’s just semantics.’_ There was probably something unhealthy about having such a discussion with himself, but he couldn’t really summon the will to care. _‘Nothing about tonight is what you would call healthy, at least not for something like me…’_  
With a final shrug and a tilt of his wings, he was soaring through the cloud-cover and away from the sometimes-stifling limits of the city. There was always a place he went in this sort of weather, his one habit. A higher plateau that gave way to a sharp drop and overlooked the sea, a not-so distant forest and the ruins of an old temple. It was, charming, in all it’s damaged beauty.  
Old, abandoned, and unloved but for a single demon. _‘Hopefully a little more company tonight…’_  


*

Smiling to himself, the dark-haired male stretched and stepped out from his shelter beneath the temple eaves and into the sudden rain, closing his eyes and tilting his face upward. The drops were icy, striking his face and shoulders, whispering and gliding over the black leather of his jacket. A sudden gust of wind sent them to spattering along the dark-denim-clad length of his legs, an added chill he found all-too-easy to ignore.  
There was something so much more interesting than rain coming, after all. Something else that was about to fall from wind-whipped clouds that rolled across the sky, heavy and low with water. His eyes fluttered open for a moment, catching a glimpse of the darkening sky before he let them slip shut again. It was easier that way, he’d found. Easier to feel when he wasn’t open to distraction.  
They could distract if they had your attention, he knew. If you had your eyes open to see what they were willing to show you, you missed what there really was to see. The smokescreens weren’t ever nearly as interesting as the real show, so he tended to skip them. He could watch lightning any time; it held little interest at the moment.  
“Come on then.” He whispered into the cool stroke of the breeze, a smirk curling across his lips as the wind picked up. He could feel the storm approaching down to his very bones, tension making his spine straighten in reaction to the approaching spirit.  
Demons and Angels don’t tend to mix well, a fact bred and trained and sewn into the very fiber of their beings. _Danger. Enemy. Kill._  
The wind shifted again, a sharp scent of celestial fire now beneath the cool caress of the rain and wind. He laughed and inhaled deeply, drawing the sweet scent of herbs and the Wind of Heaven itself. The Wind of Heaven? The breeze smelled strongly of sunlight and the flowers that once bloomed on the Tree of Life. So then, it was one of _those_ angels? How special indeed, and so lucky that he was here to witness it.  
“I’m waiting for you.” He murmured as the wind whipped and cut sharply in a different direction, once again slanting the fall of the wind. It pulled at his hair, scattering strands of water-soaked chocolate and highlighted caramel.  
Lifting one hand he brushed the strands of his bangs back, rivulets of water slithering away from the press of his fingers. The drops snaked down his temples to his cheekbones, and crept down his neck before being absorbed by his black t-shirt. He widened his stance slightly, digging the heels of his black boots through the thin layer of gravel and into the rich dirt, smiling as he listened to the satisfying crunch that accompanied the action.  
Thunder crashed, drowning out the small sounds with a deep bellow that was accompanied by a thin crack. The bright flash that he could feel were at least three simultaneous lightning strikes flared across his senses, light he could see in spite of keeping his eyes closed. But it also meant his wait was almost over.  
 _‘Come on then.’_ A grin flashed over his features, white teeth bared to the darkening sky and the next thin snake of white-light through the clouds. _‘There you are.’_  
“You should know better than to wait for us.” The voice was so beautiful it bordered on painful, masculine and deep and musical as it wound around the words.  
 _‘The Japanese language never sounded so perfect.’_ Opening his eyes, the demon tilted his head and considered the new arrival, his expression a careful mask.  
His first physical impression was of the other’s height, because of course the Angel would be blessed where he was lacking. Tall, nearly six feet, if he were to guess at their current distance. Leanly built, lithe almost, but the fit of his clothing was loose enough that Hyde would bet it hid muscle. A proud face, but his features had a distant cast to them, as though he were removed from it all. Dark eyes flashed with hints of fire, hair a mix of auburn with licks of gold.  
 _‘And of course if he but stayed, he’d rule Japan as her new God… Hell, the Devil and God himself, did he have to be so beautiful and tall and fucking perfect?’_ Bitter amusement filled him. _‘Of course he did, he’s an Angel.’_  
The demon known as Takarai Hyde suddenly wished he had a cigarette to draw on disdainfully, but settled for a disgusted sigh that turned to mist in the cooler air. “Are all of you so ridiculously tall?”  
Celestial outrage flickered, chased by confusion and then disbelief. Shoulders slightly less stiff and a frown marking his perfect face, the angel shook his head slightly and responded simply. “What?”  
With a smirk the demon strolled closer, hands in his pockets, head tilting as he considered the other. “Tall. You’re tall. Are all _seraphim_ so?”  
Fire flashed in his eyes, gone just as suddenly, his face remaining perfectly pale and auburn hair unruffled in the storm. “You know what-”  
“Caste you’re from?” He made a mocking sound and rolled his eyes just for the fun of it. “Of course. If you’ve watched as many visitations as I, you begin to sense things. There has been no coming of a Seraphim unto this land in the whole of my memory, and my memory is quite long, Angel.”  
Not that long, but he did have accounts and a wealth of history at his fingertips. The Secret Library was one of those neutral places, where you could be of any bloodline and visit, provided you could find it in the first place. The only code was to keep the peace, keep to a truce between all. If you had a fight, you met elsewhere to handle it, there was no blood shed around the ancient books. Old things were powerful things, and powerful things tended to become more so when fed powerful blood.  
“And what would make you so sure that I am not simply an Arch, or one of the others. Why the highest of the First Sphere?” The Angel shifted on his feet, stepping sideways so that the distance between him and the circling demon was maintained.  
The one called Hyde noted the Angel’s white clothing remained unaffected by the still-falling rain while he himself was soaked. A faint steam emanated from the Seraph when the water drew too close, the drops evaporating into mist that lingered around the pair like fog in the night. For all the storm clouds, it might has well have been nightfall, he supposed. The faint glow of the angel’s pale skin and fiery hair was only made brighter by their dim surroundings.  
“The Archs do not ride the Wind of Heaven to Earth.” He replied bluntly with a careless wave of his right hand, the fire opal on his finger gleaming as it greedily drank in the Angel’s light.  
The Seraphim were the burning ones, the direct link to God, those who sang his praises. But why was this one here? To set foot upon Earth was to be bound to her until one’s task was done. What would make a Seraph leave his beloved God? What was important enough?  
His voice continued as his mind raced. “Nor have they the wing to stir it, once they land. They are as humans, with a human’s scent and a human’s lifespan. But you… There was a final brush of it once you did so, and thus I assume you are one of the burning ones.”  
 _I can smell and see and even feel the fire in you… It is as much my element as it is yours, Angel. Just a different kind of fire._  
“And if I say you are right?” Fire flashed in the Angel’s eyes again, and dainty fangs were visible when his lips parted in a challenging snarl. “It will take more than one hell-stone to drain me, and you have no chance to fetch more of its like.”  
“I’m not here to drink you, Seraph.” Hyde tsked; tucking his hand out of sight with a placating lift of his left palm, for this hand was bare of any adornment.  
How interesting that the somewhat-serpentine aspects of the Seraphim were true. The burning ones were sometimes called serpents, or said to be angels in dragon form. He wondered what that looked like in truth, rather than this simple ‘human’ mask that they all wore. “How suitably dramatic of you to assume my only wish was your death. There, better?”  
The Seraph frowned more as he watched the demon tuck his hand back into his jacket pocket, nerves still singing at the presence of a hell-stone and the demon who wore it. Not here to slay him and take his body to Satan as a gift? Did the Dragon even know what opportunity his son was passing up?  
“Don’t look at me like that.” The demon snapped, his handsome features tightening into a glare.  
The Seraph almost smiled at the sudden defensiveness behind it all. If it would not get him in far more trouble with his impromptu associate, he might have even mentioned it was rather cute.  
Hyde hissed. “Is it a wonder religion is so ridiculous when even _you_ believe only the worst?”  
 ** _‘Well, perhaps he is not that cute…’_**  
“You are a demon.” The Seraph defended himself with a slash of his hand. “Your kind kills mine; it is the way of us and has been since He was banished.”  
“Ahh yes, the Great Lord.” Hyde’s tone was thoroughly mocking. “Once like you, was he not? The Dragon of Heaven instead of Hell? True enough he and his army fell and became the black-winged ones you call enemy. But their sons, and the sons of their sons? Are they too your enemy? They were never given a choice!”  
“You speak of fallen angels, The Dragon, the Dark Kin.” The Seraph tilted his head slightly. “And what of you, Demon?”  
“I cannot help what my father was, what his father was, or the fact that his father is the one you call The Dragon.” Hyde replied bitterly. “All I can do is act as I wish, and leave him to his own devices.”  
Fire in the Seraph’s eyes again, this time a hot emerald rather than just fierce orange. The flicker was beautiful as it danced through the nearly-black of his eyes, and Hyde felt reluctance when it was gone. That reluctance alone told him he was staring, made him direct his eyes away and ignore the desire to look at the Angel again. _Keep your head, Hyde…_  
“You defy him.” There was surprise behind the words, as though the realization had suddenly dawned.  
“Did you honestly come to fight a Battle that was won by your side more than a thousand years ago?” Sudden weariness plagued him, made him wonder what he’d thought to find in this storm, or any other he’d stood in and watched. He stared at the rain in bitter disappointment, acid seeping into his words. “Why waste your time, Seraph? Does not your God need you to sing his praises?”  
“I have brothers, they can serve while I do as I am, here.” Another impatient cut of his pale hand, the demon glanced over to watch it all. “Tell me then, Demon, what should I be fighting.”  
“Takarai.” The demon corrected sharply.  
Again the Seraph was confused. “What?”  
 _Do I need to speak more slowly?_ He shrugged. “Ta-kar-ai Hi-de-to, or just Hyde. Being called ‘demon’ is bound to be as annoying to me as being called ‘Angel’ would be to you.”  
“I understand it can be used as an endearment, in this place.” The Seraph replied distractedly, seeming to weigh something. “Hyde, then.”  
Hyde turned his internal grin into a challenging smirk. “And you, Seraph?”  
“Me.” Distrust flickered in dark eyes as the Seraph shifted slightly, still unsure of the demon’s intentions.  
“What do I call you?” Hyde elaborated with a sigh. “Or I shall be forced to stick with the almost-endearment ‘Angel’. I doubt you want that.”  
The Seraph blinked at him for a moment or two, a brief flutter of lashes he noted with a tilt of his head and an arch of his brow. He wouldn’t ask for it again, he decided, that would be perilously close to begging. But it didn’t change the fact he wanted to. _Tell me…_  
He shifted slightly, studying the shorter male and wondering why he was so on edge. Granted, it was a demon, and they were something to be wary of. But this one was fairly young, and with generations of mortality behind him. **_‘Still, someone to be careful of.’_**  
That posture and smirk challenged him, mockingly asking if he was afraid to give something so simple as a name. _To know the true name of a thing is to have power over it._ The mocking expression continued as though taunting him. _Are you afraid?_ It made his eyes narrow and his teeth grind before he replied.  
“Gackt… Kamui Gackt.”  
Hyde grinned, not bothering to hide it. “Gackt then… Well, come on and I will introduce you to the enemy of us all.”  
The Seraph blinked in surprise when he was suddenly presented with the demon’s back, and Hyde had already made several strides before he paced after. Lengthening his strides he caught up to the shorter man without seeming like he was in a rush, emulating the demon’s pose and sliding his hands into his pockets. ‘The enemy of us all?”  
Lightening flashed, white fire spreading over Hyde’s suddenly tense and bitter features as Gackt glanced at him to take it all in. “I’m taking you to The Haven, Angel, where you’ll find that not all Demons are from hell. Some are the ones your God made in his image, his beloved ‘Man’. Maybe if you see what they do to your lesser Kin, you burning ones will do something about it.”  
Gackt frowned at the demon, wondering at the puzzling sort of individual it took to wait around in the rain for angels to fall… While seeming to both admire and dislike Angel-Kin. Particularly when that individual was a demon, who was now playing tour-guide for an Angel through what he viewed as something infinitely more pressing than an age-old war was.  
 ** _‘What is happening here?’_**  
Takarai snorted and replied without glancing at him. _‘Hell on Earth.’_  
Gackt jumped slightly, staring at him. **_‘How is it that I can hear you?!’_** He’d give it this much, Earth was proving to be quite an interesting place.  
Hyde smirked. _About time I had some fun…_  


***

_ The Present: _

Gackt paced into his lover’s studio with a cursory brush of his knuckles on the door, knowing that if Hyde was working there was no way the Demon would hear it anyway. When Hyde worked, he worked. He got absorbed in the music, gave himself over to it utterly.  
It was something Gackt never tired of seeing; like he never tired of making love to the Demon he’d had the fortune to call his mate for over a decade. With a smile to the sight of the shorter male curled over his desk, pen scratching away, the Seraph crooned. “Hi-de-to.”  
A rush of pleasure at his presence filled their link, but the Demon’s mind continued to whirl over half-formed words.  
“Hyde.” Gackt gently chided. “It’s nearly nightfall, beloved.”  
The blond flung his head up, wheat-pale strands flying as he shot a glance to the window, and then to the clock on his desk. “Che!”  
The tall Seraph laughed, wrapping his arms around the annoyed demon and resting his chin on his mate’s shoulder. “What are you up to, watashi no akuma?”  
 _My Demon…_  
“Working.” Hyde murmured, twisting his head just enough to catch Gackt’s lips in a quick kiss. “But you let me work too long, love. I better go dye my hair.”  
Gackt frowned as he let the blond slip away, bracing his hip against the desk as he watched Hyde disappear into the bathroom. “This is only temporary, right?”  
Hyde’s face appeared with a mischievous grin. “Why, going to miss it already?”  
“It makes it easier to find you.” Gackt taunted, fingertips trailing over the papers with their scraps of writing.  
“Ass.” Hyde bit out with a laugh, and closed the door. _‘I’ll get you for that later.’_  
 ** _‘We’ll see.’_** Gackt murmured, smiling faintly as he caught scraps of lyrics beginning to form.

_I went to watch the pouring rain,_  
And knew right from the start,  
That here and now was the raging storm,  
That would tear my world apart. 

**_‘What are you doing, my Hyde?’_** Gackt wondered to himself, sliding one page aside in favor of the next.

_And from the Heavens fell an Angel,_  
With wings of golden flame,  
From the Heavens fell an Angel  
And I asked him for his Name. 

“Remind me to reset that clock later!” Hyde called, and Gackt hummed a neutral reply, sliding more pages around until he found another formed verse.

_I asked an Angel for his Name,_  
He looked into my Heart,  
I asked an Angel for his Name, 

“Gackt?” Hyde appeared in the doorway, his hair already damp and dark with dye. “Love?”  
The Seraph straightened with a smile, abandoning the papers and pacing toward his lover. “Need help?”  
“This will probably go faster if I have it.” The demon sighed, expression wrinkling in displeasure at the strong scent of the dye.  
“I will remind you that this was your idea.”  
“Of course it was, it’s brilliant. The less they really know about me, the better.” Hyde rolled his eyes. “Why else would I give them a name I haven’t used in fifteen years?”  
“You’re not going to leave enough of the building standing for it to matter.” Gackt shrugged taking the bottle and placing a light kiss at one corner of the still-frowning mouth. “Turn around love, we have work to do.”  
 _‘Bossy Seraph.’ _  
 ** _‘Just the way my Demon likes me.’_**__  
Hyde grinned wickedly at the reflection of himself and his mate, fire flashing in his eyes. _‘My shift doesn’t start until nine…’_  
Gackt laughed, a low and purring sound as he curled himself around the shorter male for a moment, an answering blue flame sparking in his gaze. **_‘We’ll see how fast we can get the color to set, and then I’ll let you know if I like it.’_**  
 _‘You’ll like it.’_ The demon crooned.  
His angel smiled and gave a faint shrug. **_‘You’ll just have to wait and see how much.’_**  



End file.
